WINCHESTER, Va. - No. 17 Shenandoah University's quest for a third straight ODAC baseball championship continues this weekend by hosting Eastern Mennonite in the best-of-three tournament semi-finals.

Shenandoah (28-9 and the tournament's fourth-seed) hosts eighth-seeded Eastern Mennonite in games one and two Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.

SU will be the home team for game one and the Royals in game two.

If the two teams split, game three will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Bridgeforth Field with Shenandoah as the home team.

The Hornets advanced to the semis by taking their quarterfinal round series, 2-1, over fifth-seeded Hampden-Sydney.

EMU comes into the series with a 9-13 record after upsetting top-seeded Randolph-Macon, 2-1, in its best-of-three quarterfinal round series last week. The tournament victories were the first for the program since the 2002 season.

The two teams have a combined 10 All-ODAC honorees including first team members Jaylon Lee from Eastern Mennonite and Pearce Bucher, Colby Martin, and Frankie Ritter from Shenandoah.

Martin, a second baseman, leads this group by earning Player of the Year honors. 

The Hornets swept EMU this season, winning 11-8 in Winchester on Apr. 7 and 10-2 in Harrisonburg on Apr. 22. In 41 matchups dating back to the 1997 season, Shenandoah has a 37-4 record over the Royals. One of those meetings, on Apr. 23, 2015, came in ODAC Tournament play. SU won that tournament opening contest, 11-3.

Shenandoah, the 2018 and 2019 ODAC champion, comes into the semis hitting a league-best .334 as a team with 47 home runs among its 143 extra base hits.

Martin is leading the league with a .479 average while first baseman Keegan Woolford has a league-best 13 home runs. Woolford, the Hornets all-time home runs leader with 42, is two home runs from tying the season record for roundtrippers. 

EMU hits .268 as a team with Lee's .379 leading the club. Brent Lindsey, another All-ODAC honoree, is right behind Lee at .375. Lee also has seven of the team's 11 home runs.

The Hornets 3.72 team ERA is second to Lynchburg in the league while Eastern Mennonite gives up a tenth-best 7.24 earned runs per contest.

Shenandoah skipper Kevin Anderson figures to draw his starting pitchers from a group that includes Tad Dean, Jacob Faivre, Calvin Pastel, and Reilly Owen. Pastel was the winning pitcher in the Harrisonburg matchup with Eastern Mennonite this season with Faivre picking up his first collegiate win in the Winchester contest.

Brendon Barrett is 4-3 in seven starts and John Judy 2-3 in six for the Royals. Both men have one complete game to their credit.

The winner of this weekend's series takes on the victor of the No. 2 Lynchburg versus No. 6 Bridgewater series for the ODAC championship next weekend on the campus of the highest remaining seed. 

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